E3 2006: Microsoft Announces New 360 Accessories

Wireless Racing Wheel, HD-DVD Drive, Wireless Headset, and more!

By Gerry Block

Updated: 28 Jun 2016 9:42 pm

Posted: 10 May 2006 6:20 am

Microsoft announced a variety of new accessories at their major E3 Xbox conference earlier today. The new hardware shown included the HD-DVD drive, a Wireless Racing Wheel, Wireless Headset, and an eye-toy like web-cam.

Most exciting among the new products was the Wireless Racing Wheel 360. Designed to launch with Forza 2 this holiday season, the wheel offers both wireless connectivity and full force-feedback. Sporting a rather sleek and modern low-profile design aesthetic, Microsoft aims to bring realistic racing action to their next-gen system. The wheel itself is a Mazeratti-style shape, rounded, save for a flattened over-knee area. Faux leather covers much of the wheel's gripping surface, though the lower portion is bright exposed aluminum. The rest of the housing is Xbox 360 off-white, accented by dark plastic. On the wheel itself, the Xbox Guide button is centrally located, while the expected D-pad and face buttons grace the left and right spokes. Two large paddle shifters branch off the wheel's stalk. A variety of nice features are incorporated in the wheel's design. The base will allow for table mounting via a screw on bracket, and is also contoured and lined with a grippy surface to allow for lap placement. The peddles forgo the usual flat foot pad area and instead hollow the surface out, in order to allow players to brace the pedals with their heels. The wheel uses standard 360 Wireless controller battery packs to operate wirelessly, though only with vibration feedback. In order to use the full force-feedback capabilities, the wheel must be plugged into wall power via an AC adaptor. The 360 Wireless Headset was also a pretty exciting announcement. The device is a small ear-mounted microphone and speaker, modern in design and rather attractive. Housed in typical Xbox 360 grey and white, the headset has easy to access volume, mute, and power buttons located right on the headset itself. Powered via internal rechargeable batteries, Microsoft says the headset will be good for 8 hours of use at a time, and will also include an AC adapter for recharging. Perhaps the coolest feature of the Wireless Headset is the fact that it will not require any controller mounted adapter. Instead, the headset communicate with the 360 via the same 2.4 GHz radio frequency the wireless controllers use.

A small EyeToy-esque web-cam named the Xbox Live Vision was also shown. No serious details were revealed, but Peter Moore outlined new abilities for players to include snapshots in their GamerTag as well as map their own face or broadcast a video link in the upcoming World Series of Poker game. Xbox Live Gold subscribers will also be able to video chat and send photo-mails. During the conference, Peter Moore took the time to show off the forthcoming external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360. No real details were given, but the drive was about the size of a standard external 3.5'' drive, housed in a 360 styled off-white case with perforated grey faceplate, similar to the cooling intake on the top of the 360. The drive appeared to be designed to stand next to the 360 vertically, and Peter Moore promised that the add-on would be the best HD-DVD value available when it is released. Absolutely no mention was made of any games being designed for the device, and in all appearances it would seem the HD-DVD drive will be used solely for movie playback. Microsoft says it will be available this holiday season. At the post-conference party at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, Microsoft also had a small dongle on display, lacking labels and explanation. A little research revealed that it was the Xbox 360 Wireless Gaming Receiver for Windows. The dongle will allow all 360 wireless accessories, from the 360 controllers to the future Wireless Racing Wheel, to work as controllers for Windows PCs as well.

Finally, Microsoft also showed off a new memory card. Quite similar to the original, at least on the outside, the new card boasts 256 MB of storage, a significant jump over the standard card's 64.